$90 fee may be required even if you buy your own modem and plug it in yourself.

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Comcast is making it difficult for many new customers to avoid paying installation fees—even if they purchase their own modems and are willing to set them up themselves.

Based on our tests, signing up for standalone Internet or TV service on Comcast.com often requires payment of a $59.99 or $89.99 installation fee, depending on where you live. (The fee was $60 in two Massachusetts suburbs and $90 at homes in Houston, Texas, and Seattle, Washington.) In cases where the $60 or $90 fee is charged, the fee is required whether you purchase your own modem or rent one from Comcast for another $11 a month.

The installation fee might be charged even if the home you're buying service at has existing Comcast service, and even if you order Internet speeds lower than those purchased by the current occupant. That means the fee is charged even when Comcast doesn't have to make any upgrades at the house or apartment you're moving into. Internet speed makes no difference, as the fee may be charged whether you purchase 15Mbps downloads or gigabit service.

I couldn't move through Comcast's ordering process without setting up a $90 professional installation.

Jon Brodkin

The $90 installation fee was required whether I chose to use my own modem or to lease one from Comcast.

"We can't offer self-install kits for residences that we already serve with an existing customer," a Comcast spokesperson told us. Comcast said it requires professional installations for "complex" cases.

Bundle up to avoid the fee

You can avoid the installation fee by purchasing certain bundles that include both TV and Internet, but the fee is often mandatory if you buy only TV service or broadband individually. The $60 or $90 fee is also charged when you buy phone service only or a "double-play" package of phone service and broadband.

We tested this by entering addresses into Comcast's online sign-up system and going through most of the process of signing up for service. In cases where Comcast requires the fee, we were unable to get to the "Submit Order" page unless we scheduled a "professional installation" and submitted credit card information. Getting one of Comcast's self-install kits wasn't even an option in these cases.

The fee isn't always required. A Comcast spokesperson provided us with five addresses in different states where Comcast's online system offers the option of a free self-install kit:

If you're lucky enough to get a free install offer, this is what it looks like.

Jon Brodkin

When asked why free self-install kits are available for these addresses, Comcast told us, "These are all homes for sale in our footprint that previously had Comcast services."

But our tests of Ars staff addresses indicate there are at least two common scenarios in which you'd have to pay the fee. If you live in a house in Comcast's territory but currently subscribe to something else, like Verizon FiOS, our tests indicate that you have to agree to pay the installation fee in order to switch to Comcast.

Secondly, if you're moving into a home that's still occupied and the current resident has Comcast service, you'd have to pay the installation fee. This would occur if you sign up for service in advance when you're planning to move into a new home or apartment almost immediately after the current resident leaves.

Comcast's fees vary so much by geographic location and bundle that we can't be sure that these general guidelines will hold true in every case. But it's clear that there are multiple circumstances in which Comcast will not allow new customers to order service online unless they agree to a pricey installation, even when they have their own modem and could plug it in themselves.

Please complete your order!

A Comcast spokesperson initially disputed our findings—even though they were based entirely on the results provided by Comcast's website. The Comcast spokesperson told us that a new customer can't sign up for service online at an address that currently has a paying Comcast customer, because its system has a business rule in place to automatically flag such an address. Comcast told us that in these cases, a new customer would be required to talk to a Comcast agent, who would presumably ensure that the current resident is actually moving out before allowing the new customer to hook up to Comcast's network. Because of that, Comcast told us that we shouldn't assume that the installation fee listed on its website would actually be charged.

But that doesn't appear to be true. I was able to schedule installation appointments and enter credit card numbers in order to sign up for service at homes where the current resident subscribes to Comcast. Hitting the "Submit Order" button would have charged my card $50 immediately, enough to cover the first monthly payment of $30 and part of the installation fee.

I didn't actually click the "Submit Order" button because I wanted to avoid credit card charges and a confusing situation with Comcast installers. But once I pointed this out to the Comcast spokesperson, the company stopped denying that it would be impossible to sign up for service at these homes without talking to a Comcast agent.

In the ensuing days, Comcast's automated system sent me two followup emails urging me to complete my order before I unsubscribed from the messages—I was never told that I had to talk to a Comcast agent in order to set up service.

One of the Comcast emails I received urging me to complete my order.

Jon Brodkin

The Comcast spokesperson told us that installation fees vary by market and on whether the company has a promotion running.

Comcast also told us that installation fees may be refunded when it turns out that no special installation was required. But it's clear that the Comcast website often forces customers to schedule a professional installation and agree to the fee in order to complete an order.

Once you've agreed to the fee and paid a deposit, actually getting a refund could be tricky. Because the default setting is a required payment, customers may not even realize it's possible to get a refund.

Comcast provided a statement for our story:

For Internet-only customers, we offer two options that do not require an in-home tech visit. A customer can use an Xfinity self-install kit with a modem leased from Comcast, or purchase his/her own modem. Orders can be completed online, in-person at an Xfinity retail store, or by phone. We've worked hard to make the self-install experience simple and easy and it's a growing and popular way for new customers to connect. When the installation is more complex, we schedule a technician visit. There are reasons that an in-home technician visit may be necessary. For example, if our engineers need to test signal strength and connections in a home that hasn't been serviced in a number of years, or if the installation is more complicated for products like Gigabit Internet or there are multiple services (like home security) being installed. For these situations, we offer competitively priced options, which vary by market.

Judging by that Comcast statement, you'd think there would be no installation fee when you buy your own modem and are moving into a house that already has Comcast service. But as we've shown in this article, the fee is often required in those situations.

We shouldn't assume that the fee on the screen would be charged? Is there any other industry that operates this way? I expect the charges on the bill (or screen) to be the charges that I am paying. This isn't rocket science.

"We can't offer self-install kits for residences that we already serve with an existing customer," a Comcast spokesperson told us. Comcast said it requires professional installations for "complex" cases.

Comcast is huge, vertically integrated, and has little to no competition. This fee structure is a direct consequence. Articles like this make no impact on their bottom line. They don't care because they don't have to.

Every fee charged by every company providing a service is charged for one reason: because they can.

They're not the only ones. When I upgraded my Spectrum internet to 300/20, they said I needed to pay a $200 setup fee since my residence wasn't configured to support such high speeds. They sent a guy out who adjusted some hardware on the building and I was good to go. I asked later on if I downgraded my account but went back up to that speed later if I had to pay the setup fee again and I was told yes. I told them they said it was a setup fee for my residence and that I'm already set up and they said it didn't matter. It applied to every activation.

Yeah these shit waffles did the same thing to me a few years back. I have my own modem and did my own install, they still scheduled a tech to come to my house. I called to cancel and said I had it set up, went through the first time setup with the person on the phone, and internet was working. Later I get a bill for 1 hour of tech time for on premise install. Wouldn't reverse the charges, so I just cancelled and didn't pay it. Fuck 'em, I'll struggle with shitty ass DSL over eating dick sandwiches from Comcast.

Last time I had Comcast, they told me that the professional install was not optional. The installer arrived close to on-time, then looked dumbfounded because my computer didn't have a start button. I then walked him through the setup process, by following and translating his checklist of steps into unix-style steps.

He was a nice guy, and as a tech guy, I understand that most users can't do their own setup if it requires anything more then "plug box into the wall, connect cable to only other hole on box", but it's a pretty pathetic situation anyway. Just allow for a "I understand Comcast will not support the in-home devices or any configuration-related issues since I may have set everything up wrong" clause in the contract.

To be fair, they did have to run service into a second room. A room already had the line go from the attic to a jack in the wall.

My gf and her daughter were home at the time, but I was not.

However, rather than splitting in the attic, and running from there to the second room down the wall to a jack, they simply put a splitter in the room the jack already existed in, stapled a length of cable to the wall to the wood-molding along the floor, into a closet, and drilled a hole through another wood molding into the next room.

THAT is what they charged for. I was fucking FURIOUS! I am not at all skilled at any sort of wiring or home improvement, but I could've done that myself easily.

I called them up and told them what their tech did, and demanded that install money back. I should've tried to get them come back and do it right, and fix holes, blemishes, etc., that they left behind.

The saving grace I have is that, some time after that, FiOS became available. I switched, and Comcast THEN said they would've charged me less had I asked.

Don't get me wrong, I doubt Verizon is much better - but at least FiOS gives me steady bandwidth, and I can always play the "I'll switch to Comcast" tactic whenever they try to up my rates.

15 months ago I was finally going to consider subscribing to Comcast. I contacted them and made it clear I was providing my own equipment and capable of doing all required installation work once the cable was run up to the house (which it already was), but they still demanded a $90 installation fee and access to our home to an installation tech. I told them where they could bank their $90. This is not at all a new phenomenon.

I'm crossing my fingers that the bad publicity from this article results in their grudging willingness to waive the fee and visitation for those who request it.

-----Addendum, 2018/05/21: I happened to revisit this article and my comment six days after I first wrote it, to find that some anonymous whackjob had voted the comment down This down-vote occurred days after the original article and comment, after the discussion was dead and everyone had moved on to other shiny articles. Why? What was the person's motivation for voting down a personal anecdote that made no arguable statement? Is this anonymous voter a Comcast installer? That there was even just one such idiot willing and allowed to do so is precisely why it's always been my contention that the comment voting system never should have been implemented in the first place.

Over here in Croatia I had to change my operator - the new one bought the old one - and I received the modem via mail. It was early in the morning when the change happened so I got up and started connecting the new modem before I had my coffee... There was some little plastic "splitter" thing with it, I didn't have it before (same modem type), no instructions came with it, so I called them from my cell phone just in case, and the lady nicely guided me through "plug this in that hole" procedure. Then I waited a while, there was still no internet, I called them again and another nice lady went with me through a few reboots, waiting, testing and all, answering my questions and joking while there were waiting periods, until things worked on both sides. Voila.

I'm just hoping nobody from Optima reads this article and gets crazy ideas about what "customer service" means...

I cut my service back to just internet because my deal had expired. No problem and I returned their TV box I hadn't used for years. Literally the next week they called to offer a new deal that would be a few bucks cheaper, have the TV again, and I think 3x faster internet. I said sure. They she told me "We can send you a self install kit, but it's $15 for shipping". The price difference is like $2/month and we are moving in the fall. I declined citing the shipping fee.

Even why you can self-install, they are getting their money through the shipping fees.

I've gotten around this at the past 4 CA residences by calling to setup service and insisting I have all my own gear. Doing it online always required extra costs. People working the phones always seem to have ways to override a bunch of things. Not that it's ethical or anything on Comcast's part, but hopefully this helps.

What a crock of crap. I have municipal fiber, 1/1Gbps service, and no install fees, so this overhead pocket stuffing is a complete line of BS.

My installation consisted of a tech coming out and asking where I wanted the CAT5e drop and hanging around for a bit if I needed any help with my router. A publicly owned utility is still able to do this and operate in the black (/s)?

"We can't offer self-install kits for residences that we already serve with an existing customer," a Comcast spokesperson told us. Comcast said it requires professional installations for "complex" cases.

This is pure fucking doublespeak.

Not necessarily, going by the way that's worded. I'm not sure how their system works but a new service at the same address as existing service may require a new drop, a new demarcation point, separate grounding, and will need to be fed off a different splitter. In fact I'd be surprised if they even allowed multiple services at one address without one of them being a business account, or an MDU (multiple dwelling unit e.g. apartment, duplex, etc.).

What is bullshit is requiring the fee for separate internet or TV services but not bundles, and not having the same policy in all markets. And $500 to hook up a fiber services then another $500 for activation? Oh yeah, that's bullshit.

I live in a Massachusetts suburb. Comcast is very confusing when it comes to their website.

I initially was able to sign up for Internet-only service with my own provided modem, without an installation fee (they still sent by mail some paper materials and whatnot, which I didn't need.

I was also able to upgrade to a higher speed tier through the web interface without any problem, as it just reconfigured and rebooted my modem remotely and I was all set.

But downgrading to a lower speed tier later on kept forcing me to have to at least get a self-install kit mailed to my house, at least initially. I ended up not changing my service that day.

Some weeks or months later (I forget), I was, however, able to downgrade my service to the same lower speed tier just as easily as I upgraded it a while ago. (I did this to save money for a little while.)

After I was ready to re-upgrade, I believe I recall that it tried to tell me my modem wasn't compatible (even though it was just fine at faster speeds in the past) and tried to get me to pay for a new kit. A couple weeks later I upgraded just fine though, and am still using my own equipment.

I don't know what was going on. But it seems that even for the same address, Comcast's web shopping portal can exhibit different behavior seemingly randomly. I honestly don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but it pretty much feels like at any given time, if I want to change my service through the web interface, it'll either let me BYOD and not give me a hassle about having to order self-install kits or the like, or it'll just work, and I can't tell beforehand which it'll be.

It'd honestly almost be easier just talking on the phone to a Comcast rep, because at least then I can argue what I want to do to a person.

The ISP I work for charges as $20 install fee for residential copper services and a $100 install for for new fiber services (no existing infastructure, waived for some contracts). The copper fee is mandatory, if a customer rents a modem from us or not. The reason for this is two-fold: As we are a CLEC we have to pay the ILEC a setup fee for the copper line, and when we had no installation fee we had a lot of people sign up for service and never pay (basically getting a free month of service), so we were eating the setup fee as well as the monthly recurring cost. The fiber install fee covers the truck roll of a skilled employee with expensive equipment (fiber splicing) for much of the same reasons.

That being said, where they own the existing infastructure, that's just fleecing the customers.

The cable companies like to play silly games. I don't have Comcast but at one point I had Cox. They jacked up the rate so I decided to downgrade the service. They wanted a $40 installation fee to change plans. Same account, same cable modem, same everything essentially $40 to change value in the database which limits my speed. Was told absolutely there is no possibility of waiving the fee.

So I canceled and suddenly they could waive the $40 fee but too late. I signed up for FIOS (yeah I know one of the lucky ones with competition). That was six years ago. Six years of monthly revenue lost which is essentially pure profit as I don't need tech support and they have never needed to roll a truck. All because they wanted an extra $40 in "fuck you pay me" money.

"While we currently don't offer free installation please keep in mind that because we deliver very fast Internet speeds, a professional technician needs to ensure you're getting the guaranteed speeds of the plan you're paying for," the Comcast rep, Jacob, told me.

Jon, can you follow up on this? What speeds are they guaranteeing? What is the penalty for Comcast if they fall short of that guarantee?

I mean, I'd have happily paid the $90 install fee (Houston area) if they were contractually obligated to deliver the advertised speeds. Instead, I didn't have a fee, but I regularly get 25-50% of what I pay for.

"While we currently don't offer free installation please keep in mind that because we deliver very fast Internet speeds, a professional technician needs to ensure you're getting the guaranteed speeds of the plan you're paying for," the Comcast rep, Jacob, told me.

Jon, can you follow up on this? What speeds are they guaranteeing? What is the penalty for Comcast if they fall short of that guarantee?

I mean, I'd have happily paid the $90 install fee (Houston area) if they were contractually obligated to deliver the advertised speeds. Instead, I didn't have a fee, but I regularly get 25-50% of what I pay for.

I think he meant the guaranteed speed of them charging your credit card each month. Comcast doesn't guarantee shit when it comes to speed. It is the standard "up to". Getting 1 Mbps meets the definition of service "up to" 1Gbps.

One of the biggest problems I see here is the buy online/get price A versus buy over the phone/get price B model of business.

At the beginning of the year I was disputing a charge from my local carrier, Suddenlink, for charging me an increased speed price, which I hadn't ordered, and my modem didn't even support. The rep in the online chat told me they couldn't give me a full refund for contacting them online. They could offer me new service for a price that even differed (was more) than what they had charged me. They went so far as to say that their online and phone contacts were completely different and that if I wanted a full refund, I could call in. If I wanted to keep the speed and overcharge, she couldn't even authorize it at the cost they overcharged me because online sales wasn't authorized to sell at that amount.

I wonder why the charges vary so much from place to place. Where I live (Maine), I recently signed up for Comcast internet service only, and the install fee was $15, which they credited back to my first month's bill. (I have my own modem, which I hooked up myself.)

I wonder why the charges vary so much from place to place. Where I live (Maine), I recently signed up for Comcast internet service only, and the install fee was $15, which they credited back to my first month's bill. (I have my own modem, which I hooked up myself.)

My guess is either 1) local regs, 2) you have a choice of more than just Comcast or 1.5Mbps DSL?